


Regina’s Away Message

by MommyMaleficent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: ASMR, Autonomous sensory meridian response, Clingy Emma Swan, Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Infantilism, Love, Non-Sexual Age Play, Pacifiers, Separation Anxiety, little Emma, mommy Regina, sippy cups
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 10:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13005660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MommyMaleficent/pseuds/MommyMaleficent
Summary: “Whenever you need it.” She initiated the hug and whispered into soft blonde tresses, “Whenever you miss me.”





	Regina’s Away Message

“ _Again_?!”

Regina sighed. “I’m afraid so.”

Being mayor had its perks and its drawbacks, one of the latter being time and distance away from her girlfriend. Her girlfriend who, mind you, was cranky enough in the morning as it was.

She kept her eyes on putting papers into her briefcase, not wanting to see the large pout Emma would no doubt be sporting. A pout she knew Regina wanted nothing more than to kiss away.

“It’s just for the night this time, I promise. Not the week, not the weekend, just overnight. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.” When she finally did look up, to Regina’s relief, Emma wasn’t pouting. Frowning and nervously squeezing her arm in attempt to comfort herself, yes, but she was being mature about it and that was a good sign. Eye contact without glaring was also a good sign. Regina offered a small smile. “You’re going to be fine, Emma. You’ve done more than this already. One evening is nothing.”

“You’re right. It’s nothing... without you.” Emma added that last bit hopefully.

Regina sighed again. She had no more papers to put away. So she zipped everything up, slung her purse over her shoulder, and began the slow walk to meet Emma under the threshold of her office door. Emma, who was one step away from running off in a state of frustration because this was the third week in a row Regina’s work cockblocked their time together.

She was getting antsy. Regina could see it on her face, in her eyes, hear it in her voice the way she practically whined the exasperated question to confirm. Like a child shifting from foot to foot in desperate attempt to hold their bladder until they could make it to the toilet, Emma was just barely keeping it together.

When she got near enough for Emma to grab, Emma seized hold of her hands. Despite expecting it, Regina had to jump at the sudden touch.

“Regina...” Emma breathed as she neared her face, lowering her voice, “I need it, _please_. Right now, or I’m going to burst—I can feel it. It doesn’t have to be here, we can go home, but... I just need, like, five-ten minutes, that’s it. Please?”

She knew it. Regina knew this was coming. And it wasn’t going to be just five or ten minutes (it never was). Luckily, this time, she was prepared, so she took a deep breath. “I have something that will help you sleep. I recommend using headphones, or earbuds if you have them.”

Emma balked, her grip loosening slightly. Regina scoffed.

“Don’t give me that look,” she said as she reached into her purse and pulled out a purple CD case, “It’s not poisoned.”

“Suuuure...” drawled Emma at normal volume. She took it anyway, releasing Regina’s hands, her lips curling into a smile as she examined the CD within the case. “Thanks. Does it work for naps too?”

Nodding, Regina smiled a little. “Whenever you need it.” She initiated the hug and whispered into soft blonde tresses, “Whenever you miss me.”

Emma hugged her back tighter. “I always miss you...” she mumbled into her shoulder. “Tell me how could I not miss you?”

Dear God, her evening was going to be so long without Emma there.

* * *

Emma returned to the mayoral mansion alone. Upon throwing her keys into the ceramic bowl Regina kept by the door for that reason, she listened for signs that anyone else was there...

Then she stomped her foot hard onto the floor.

And then she stomped again.

And again.

And then she power stomped all the way upstairs to the master bedroom, the room she would usually be spending with Regina right about then, and flopped face first onto the duvet on her side of the queen-sized bed. Alongside muffled screams she kicked her feet and beat the pillows with her fists and kept on like that until her throat hurt from screaming and the lump that had formed in it from the inevitable crying she had to also let go.

Regina loved her. Emma knew that. She knew Regina would spend all year in bed together with her if she could. She didn’t love her job more than she loved Emma, but she had to do it because.

Just because.

Emma sniffled and beat at the pillows one more time before turning the other cheek. She hated how clingy she was when push came to shove. How dumb and sad it all was. She hated, hated, hated it! It was even worse when there was nothing to be done about it. Regina couldn’t help, and being little by herself was fine and all, but having Regina—Mommy—around made little time more special.

It wasn’t fair.

“Can’t wait...” Emma mumbled, picking herself up and furiously wiping at her eyes and nose. She tore her boots away—they hit the wall with two loud thuds—ripped off her leather jacket and her stupid sweater, woke up her laptop, and didn’t even wait for the page to load before pressing the eject button and shoving the disc with the side labeled ‘A’ inside.

All that was left was to put in her earbuds, which she did, furiously wiping away more tears and more of her runny nose all the while. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

“Hurry up!” she squawked at the machine in her lap as she wiped away more tears. “Stupid dumb thing... hurry the hell up before I throw you out the damn window!”

Eventually Regina came on the screen, but it wasn’t Regina Regina... it was Mommy Regina. Emma knew this because she looked more soft than normal. Mommy smiled at the camera, at Emma, and Emma gasped a little to herself. Instead of swiping at her eyes some more, she let those tears fall down.

“Mommy?” she whispered. Her lip trembled dangerously, and she felt fresh hot tears prick her eyes again and blurring her vision of her Mommy. “M-M-Mommy...!”

“Hello, Emma,” said Mommy in a low, soft tone. She was still smiling, but suddenly, her face became surprised, even a little sad. “Oh, dear, don’t cry...”

Emma let out a sob. How did Mommy know she’d be crying?

“Mommy!”

“Oh, sshh...” cooed Mommy in that sweet, soft voice. She reached out and her hand went out of the picture, but from what Emma could see it almost looked like Mommy was stroking her head. “There, there, little one, it’s all right... I’m here, Emma, I’m here...”

Emma sniffled, her chin wobbling more. “No, you’re not...”

She began to slouch, sliding her laptop from her lap to her tummy as she laid on her back and tucked up her knees. Now she could really feel little.

She wanted nothing more than to feel Mommy’s real hand against her cheek, her forehead, her temple. To lean into her warm touch and cry into her hand and shoulder as hard as she could and be held and comforted. To feel physically loved, she wanted nothing more.

But this Mommy couldn’t hear her, or touch her, or even really see her. She could only pretend. “I’m so sorry you’re upset, dear. Truly, I am. But that’s why I made this disc for you—” and she smiled again, her small, soft smile just for little Emma, as she took her arm and hand away, “—so you wouldn’t be so upset. I know it’s not what you’re used to, but don’t you want to try new things?”

“Hmph...” Emma sniffled, kicking her legs a little. Pouting. “No. Don’t wanna.”

Mommy sighed fondly and shook her head. “I love you, Emma. Do you love me?”

Emma nodded despite her quivering pouting lip, sniffling some more. “Lots.” Mommy’s smile grew bigger.

“My little swan...” She kept her already low voice even lower, quieter, softer. Almost wispy. “My precious little Emma...”

And so Mommy talked to her like that for a little bit, pretending like she could cuddle her and give Emma her little things to soothe her since she was upset, and slowly, Emma actually began to feel comforted.

First came her blankie, which magic got for her because she really wanted it. When Mommy grabbed tissues and pretended to wipe away Emma’s tears and help her blow her nose, she waited until Emma stopped running her sleeve over her eyes because she knew she would. Then Mommy held her favorite handleless sippy cup and told her to open her pretty mouth, and Emma did. Magic got her real sippy too because again she wanted it, the same one Mommy was offering her, filled with warm milk, and Emma readily suckled on the spout, green eyes fixed on Mommy the whole time.

“Good girl...” said Mommy, “Can you hold it by yourself, dear? Is that okay?” Emma nodded. She was already holding onto it with one hand. Mommy let go. “There’s my big little girl. Doesn’t that feel better?”

“Mmhm...” murmured Emma. She took the spout away from her for a second to mumble, “Thank you, Mommy...”

Mommy leaned into the camera and made a small kissy noise a bit above it. This was the part where she would kiss Emma’s forehead. “When you finish all that’s in your sippy, we can get started on going sleepy-bye, okay? Because Mommy knows a little sleep always helps Emma feel better no matter how upset she is.”

Emma kicked her legs. The tears came back, protesting tears. “Noooo...” she whined, “Wanna stay with Mommy... wanna see Mommy!”

“Now, now...” Mommy said, “Don’t be fussy, baby. Please stop kicking, little one.”

Emma kicked again just because. Mommy took a calming breath, unable to scold or put her hand on Emma’s knee to make her stop. But still she smiled, and held the camera close to her which made it seem like Emma was really looking up at her.

“What if Mommy told you she had a surprise for you, hm? My little Emma likes surprises, doesn’t she?”

Emma sniffled. A surprise? What kind? Mommy’s surprises for her little girl were usually always good ones, unless they involved her going to work a gazillion bajillion times a week.

Mommy held her sippy cup towards the camera again. “Let’s finish your sippy first, baby. One thing at a time. We wouldn’t want to get too excited and hurt ourselves, would we?”

Emma shook her head and continued to sip her sippy. She watched Mommy guide her cup toward her and sighed. She relaxed her legs and let them rest on the mattress, cuddling her blankie close to her because she didn’t have her Mommy to cuddle. Blankie was better than nothing. Mommy continued to smile at her all the while, like she could really see Emma doing all these things.

“You are so, so precious to me,” Mommy said, slow and soft. “I love you so much, Emma, no matter what. No matter how far I am or how much time we spend apart, I will always love you. That’s a promise.

“Do you want to know what I love about you?” Emma nodded. “Let’s see if you can finish your sippy before I can list ten things, hm? I’ll go slow, so don’t drink too fast or we might get a tummy ache. Little Emma doesn’t like tummy aches, does she?”

Emma giggled and shook her head. How did Mommy know she was gonna do that? Mommy chuckled.

“Let’s see... I love...” she tapped her chin, pretending to look around the room before landing her gaze back on Emma, “your pretty smile. Because you wear it extremely well, my dear.”

And on and on Mommy slowly went with her list of ten things she loved about her baby, listing five things Emma could see, and five things she couldn’t. By the sixth thing, which was Emma’s thoughtfulness, Emma was done with her sippy cup and just watching Mommy talk. She loved Mommy’s soft, low tone of voice. It was so rich and velvety and smooth and comforting.

And so, so Mommy. That part most of all made Emma very happy.

When Mommy got through her list, she took back Emma’s now empty sippy cup and gasped.

“All done? Already?” She eyed the cup from the side to make sure. “Yup, all gone.” She turned back to Emma, smiling again. “That’s my baby.”

“Heehee!” Emma giggled. She patted her tummy and rubbed it a little. She wished Mommy was there to rub it while she drank, but then she remembered Mommy’s surprise. “Suprise! Mommy, what’s the surprise?”

“I bet you’re wondering what the surprise is, aren’t you?”

Emma nodded. She opened her mouth when Mommy began to give her her purple butterfly paci, and magic once again helped her, and she began to suckle on her paci.

“ _There’s_ my good girl...” Mommy cooed, “Now, before Mommy gives baby her surprise, first, we’ll need to change little Emma into her favorite jammies, okay? Can we do that, baby? And then we’ll need to brush her pretty teeth so they can be healthy and strong. Once we’re all done with that—are you ready, Emma?”

“Mm! Mm!!” Emma nodded lots and lots. “‘M weady, ‘m weady!!”

Mommy giggled. “Once we followed all Mommy’s instructions and gotten ready for sleep, I want you to flip this CD over to the other side, okay? This is Side A, but your surprise is on Side B. Make sure we’ve got everything done before we do, and use our headphones or earbuds, okay?” Emma nodded again, calmer now. “I’ll see you soon, my dear. Thank you for being here with me, baby. I hope this has helped you calm down and relax even a little bit. When I come home, you can tell me all about it, okay?”

“O’tay.”

Mommy ended the video by waving and blowing Emma a kiss. “See you soon, my little swan. I love you.”

Emma sadly waved bye-bye to her Mommy. Then the CD ended, and she felt tears prick at her eyes once again at the loss of seeing her Mommy. But she didn’t do anything about it this time but hug her blankie and suck her paci. And sniffle. These tears were slow to fall but Emma ignored them as she put her laptop aside, got up, and went to do as Mommy asked.

She got into her favorite onesie that turned her from a regular little toddler girl to a fluffy sheep little toddler girl. She took out her paci to brush her teeth even though she never brushed for naps normally, and curled back into Mommy’s bed and flipped the disc over once she could. And then she put the earbuds in, hugged and sniffed her blankie, and waited to hear her Mommy’s soothing voice again.

Since everything was preparing her for sleep, there was most likely no video. Emma put Mommy’s sleeping mask over her eyes, closed her eyes, and removed her paci to yawn.

She didn’t need to wait long.

“Hello, Emma,” Mommy whispered. At the sound of her voice, Emma smiled. She couldn’t help it. Mommy had the best voice in the entire world. “I hope you’re comfortable, little one...”

* * *

The next morning, Regina returned, carefully shutting the front door in case Emma was still asleep. Emma’s boots weren’t anywhere nearby, so one could reasonably assume she wasn’t even there, but Regina knew better.

She removed her heels so her feet had a break and made her way up the stairs toward the master bedroom. Lord knows Emma wouldn’t be in her own bedroom when her Mommy wasn’t home, even if it had all her little necessities.

The door was left ajar (Emma was definitely in) and upon peeking inside, Regina couldn’t help but smile at what she saw.

Earbuds still in her ears, in her little swan onesie and curling in on herself, Emma slept soundly in her bed. She was clutching her white wool baby blankie, the color blending in nicely with her clothes. Her pacifier, upon close inspection, had fallen out of her mouth and was right beside it, but she didn’t seem to notice, too wrapped up in dreams. Her empty sippy cup sat on the nightstand while her laptop, resting on Regina’s pillow, was playing Side B on loop.

Regina left her purse outside and carefully pushed the door open a little more, thankful it didn’t creak or squeak. Tiptoeing up to Emma, she picked up the pacifier, her pretty little butterfly one, and gently coaxed it back between her little girl’s parted lips. Emma stirred slightly, moaning a bit and squeezing her eyes shut tighter, and for a second Regina freezed, afraid she was caught.

But that moment passed, and Emma didn’t wake. She took to her paci as she normally would and began to suckle rhythmically. Breathing a quick sigh of relief, Regina reached down and stroked a few strands of hair away from Emma’s forehead, and pressed a single, solitary kiss to her brow.

God, did she love her swan.


End file.
